Dale Franks

Donald Trump’s…um…intemperate remarks about women hit the airwaves, and got wall-to-wall coverage. So, it looks like Ted Cruz picked the wrong week to release a photograph of him making phone calls for the Trump Campaign. Anyway, the disaster that is Election 2016 continues apace. With the election almost in the bag, why are Dems cheating so much? Popular culture is sending us subtle messages that are hard to pick up, but dramatically affect our thinking. Also, the educational system in this country is a frickin’ disaster.

The BLS reports that a lackluster 156,000 net new jobs were created in September, while the unemployment rate rose 0.1% to 5.0%. The labor force participation rate rose 0.1% to 62.9%. Average hourly earnings rose 0.2%, while the average workweek increased by 0.1 hours to 34.4 hours.

If this week’s podcast had a single thread running through all our topics…it would be interesting and listenable. But it doesn’t. So…Anyway, we talk about Donald Trump’s inability to forego responding to criticism. We know exactly what kind of horrific disaster a Hillary presidency will be, but we don’t know what kind of horrific calamity a Trump presidency would be, though we know it would be one. How can we protect Cuba’s unique culture of poverty and despair from being lost to tourism and money? Dale updates us on the status of his Volvo, and tells Michael what car to buy. We then just swap car stories for an hour. We finish up by discussing how women fail to understand that men live in a world where a smart mouth can get you punched.

Durable goods orders were unchanged in August, with ex-transportation orders down -0.4%, but core capital goods orders up 0.6%. On a year-over-year basis, durables orders are down -1.3% from a year ago, with ex-transportation orders down -1.1% and core capital goods orders down -3.1%.

The MBA reports that mortgage applications fell -0.7% last week, with purchases up 1.0%, but refis down -2.9%.

New home sales fell -7.6% in August, to a 609,000 annual rate. July’s reading was revised upwards, however, by 5,000, resulting in a July increase of 13.8%.

The Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey for September rose from 4.5 to 16.7.

What used to be called the Case-Shiller Home Price Index, then the S&P Case-Shiller HPI, and, as of today, is called the S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller HPI was unchanged in July, while the year-over-year change fell -0.1% to 5.0%.